Sabalenka Handles Keys, Muchova Topples Rybakina to Reach Brisbane Semis

Defending Brisbane champion Aryna Sabalenka handed Madison Keys a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to stretch her personal Brisbane winning streak to eight, while Karolina Muchova ended Elena Rybakina’s 13-match winning streak with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 upset.

Sabalenka and Muchova will meet in the semifinals on Saturday in Brisbane. Muchova leads the pair’s head to head 3-1 and has now won three straight against Sabalenka.

Rybakina, the 2024 Brisbane champion, had not lost since the quarterfinals of Wuhan last year. She won the WTA Finals last year in Riyadh.

“My last two matches, I was struggling a lot on the serve, and I think the movement was not the greatest. As I said, there is still time to work on couple of things,” Rybakina said.

Asked to be specific about her struggles, Rybakina said: “I think the toss was a bit everywhere, and also push of the legs. It all has to connect together, and I was quite off.”

Headed to her first semifinal in Brisbane 🙌#BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/Gv2lkeyons
— wta (@WTA) January 9, 2026

Muchova, making her first appearance in Brisbane since 2020, improved to 10-10 lifetime against the Top-5 win her win and 2-1 lifetime against the former Wimbledon champion. The Czech, ranked 10, has never been to a WTA 500 final before.

“I’m super pleased. Honestly, couldn’t be better. Played three matches, two against top-10 players,” Muchova said. “It’s a way to start a year, and it’s great to have this experience on the court, so I’m very pleased.”

Sabalenka was in control from start to finish against Keys, breaking the American five times and winning nine of the final 12 games. Keys, has not defeated a Top-10 player since she capped off her Australian Open title run with a win over Sabalenka in last year’s final. Since the she has lost seven straight against the Top-10.

Was the world No.1 thinking about last year’s loss to Keys in Australia?

“Honestly, not really,” she said. “I was just trying to play my best tennis, just trying to play point by point, and when I won the match, of course I was super happy, but I didn’t really have the throwback into the Australian Open last year, to be honest. I don’t know why.

“I never stay in the past. I know that I lost in Australia against her, and that’s the big motivation of course to go out and to get the win. But I never, like, stay in the past, and never remember things from the previous meeting.”